“We’re retreating now.”
“What do you mean?!”
The lord shouted out loud. From his perspective, it was absurd to run away when they’d come this far. No, in the first place, it didn’t even seem like that demon beast would just watch them do that.
“Don’t you understand? It’s corrosion poison.”
“…What? Corrosion poison?”
The lord with a distorted face quickly scanned the surroundings. He’d thought it was all a mess, but looking again, it wasn’t just the degree of deterioration from not being maintained for a long time. This could only be seen as having some artificial cause.
And if the cause was the ‘corrosion poison’ Taeyon mentioned, everything made sense.
“Damn it!”
The lord’s face twisted sharply.
“Corrosion poison? Why of all things!”
Demon beasts sometimes appeared bearing certain curses. Curses were things that made demon beasts stronger and made knights weaker. Among them, corrosion poison immediately corroded knights’ weapons, damaged their skin, and destroyed the lungs of those who inhaled the curse.
Ordinary people would have their lungs damaged and have difficulty breathing after being in an area affected by corrosion poison for just one hour. Knights at least had stronger bodies than ordinary people so they were better off, but even so, two hours was the limit.
If you inhaled corrosion poison, you had to treat your body, and if you relied on natural healing, you’d need to recuperate for a month. Knights couldn’t rest for that long during battle.
So when knights faced a demon beast with corrosion poison, they always brought along a healing ability user. After two hours of combat, they would receive healing from the ability user for rapid treatment and be redeployed to battle.
“Retreat for now.”
“…Understood.”
As they hesitantly stepped back, the tiger demon beast approached them with slow steps. Its leisurely gait looked almost as if it were playing with the knights.
“Since the nest isn’t completed yet, it won’t chase us far.”
Taeyon, confirming the knights had finished preparing to retreat, continued.
“Run!”
The knights who had turned around began running, swallowing their curses. At the same time, the tiger demon beast also charged. Taeyon stopped and drew his sword.
“Young Master!”
“I’ll be right there.”
Clang! The sword and the tiger’s claws clashed sharply. In that moment, the sword tip turned black and corroded. It climbed up the blade like a living creature and attacked Taeyon’s fingertips. His fingernail tips turned purple, and a tingling pain began. Feeling this, Taeyon clicked his tongue.
The tiger stepped back one step, narrowed its eyes, and licked its nose with its tongue.
This time Taeyon charged first. The moment the tiger demon beast extended its front paw as if to block the sword being swung once more, Taeyon twisted the sword and struck the tiger demon beast hard with the side of the blade.
Crash!!
The tiger that went flying struck the party hall door and tumbled.
Taeyon didn’t wait any longer and turned to start running. Since the knights had gotten far away, there was no reason for him to stall for time anymore. Running with all his might, he caught up with the knights in an instant.
“Young Master, you should leave that kind of thing to us!”
“I have no hobby of entrusting the rear to weaklings.”
“…Ugh.”
The knight wore a hurt expression at the sharp words, but Taeyon paid no mind and checked behind them. The tiger demon beast was sniffing irritably and glaring this way, but it didn’t seem like it would chase them.
“More importantly, are you injured anywhere? What about the curse?”
Taeyon reflexively checked his own body. It was because the thought occurred that he might worry Kaniel. Fortunately, only the edge of his clothes had crumbled a bit and the sword tip was corroded as if rusted, with no further damage than that.
“No problem.”
“That’s a relief….”
Before they knew it, they had arrived back at the corridor of portraits. The lord who had been running at the front rolled his eyes as if gauging the situation. As if he’d made a decision, he increased his speed a bit more, then took one of the portraits and tucked it under his arm.
It was the portrait of the lord’s wife.
“No, now is not the time for….”
“What, you fool! I’m going to protect my wife’s portrait!”
They had a lot to say about the remaining ancestors’ portraits, but the knights silently kept their silence.
It was because they knew very well that the lord missed his wife who was staying with their second son in the royal capital.
Taeyon chuckled and shook his head.
***
When the lord and Taeyon’s group returned to the camp again, questioning gazes turned toward them. The time was too short for them to have faced a demon beast, their clothes were intact, and the fact that there wasn’t a single injured person seemed too strange.
“Taeyon!”
Kaniel, who had been waiting crouched at the entrance, ran to Taeyon.
“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Ah, I was worried.”
Kaniel examined Taeyon’s appearance, which looked fine, then finally smiled bashfully.
“But….”
He was about to say something when the lord shouted loudly.
“Five, I need five people!”
At the beckoning hand making snapping sounds with fingers, five knights who had been on standby nearby ran over. They knelt on one knee before the lord and waited for orders.
“Go to the cities in this vicinity and request support! Tell them a demon beast with corrosion poison has appeared in Breil and built a nest. You know where to go, right?”
“Yes, my lord!”
“Good. Go now!”
The five knights each transformed into animals and began running in different directions. Now, before tonight, reinforcements would arrive.
Because a demon beast building a nest was no ordinary matter.
“Young Master, we need to discuss in more detail….”
The lord’s gaze landed on Kaniel. It was when Kaniel, who had perceptively realized they were about to have a heavy conversation unsuitable for him, was about to step back. Taeyon wrapped his arm around his waist to prevent him from going back and gestured with his chin to the lord.
“Let’s do it together. Kaniel is my demon beast expert.”
Kaniel’s expression brightened considerably. His heart was a bit heavy with the thought that he had to live up to expectations, but he was still happy to be relied upon.
The lord made a somewhat strange expression, then soon shrugged his shoulders and led the two toward his tent. As the three were about to enter the tent, a soldier ran over as if he’d been waiting.
The lord stopped as if he recognized that face.
“My lord, it’s an emergency!”
“Hm? Why? Don’t tell me that damn bastard said he doesn’t want to come?”
“That’s not it, my lord! The young master wasn’t at the lakeside you mentioned.”
“…What?”
Matiel wasn’t at that lake? The lord’s expression hardened stiffly.
His eldest son had recently met his Tuner and had become quite stupid. This was like an unavoidable side effect for those receiving tuning for the first time, so the lord hadn’t particularly disciplined his son.
Yesterday he’d gone out saying he was going camping with the young master’s party, and when night fell, only the young master and his party had returned. They said they’d returned first because the party’s condition wasn’t good. If that was the case, he should have returned together—what a stupid son.
However, when the incident occurred at dawn, he thought it was rather fortunate. Thanks to that, he could be away from danger. So he’d deliberately sent soldiers to the lake only after morning came, but….
“He’s not there? Why isn’t the kid there?”
“The tent wasn’t cleaned up, but there were signs of hastily tidying the tent and leaving. After that, where he went….”
The lord held his head.
“No, forget it. He probably went to see some scenery with Piyod. Haah…. This is why you need to meet your Tuner early.”
“Should we search?”
“If there’s no news by this evening, send them then. There’s a lot to do right now.”
As the soldier withdrew, the lord finally let out a pained sigh. Taeyon smiled, recalling the lord who had sighed at Matiel’s eccentric behavior since childhood.
“Don’t laugh!”
“It reminded me of when we were young.”
“Back then, you were also a source of my headaches, Young Master.”
“I think that was only for a short while.”
“Whether it was short or not, it’s a fact that it happened.”
Taeyon a source of headaches? He couldn’t imagine it at all.
What kind of trouble could this reliable and taciturn man have caused to be a source of headaches?
Kaniel thought he wanted to know about Taeyon from that time. Had there been a troublemaking period for Taeyon too?
Whether a flush had risen to his cheeks from excitement, Taeyon narrowed his eyes and tapped his cheek with his fingertips. Kaniel quickly turned his gaze away.
“Well, come in. We have a lot to discuss.”
The lord’s tent wasn’t particularly well decorated. It was because he was a lord with a down-to-earth side, having worked as a field operative as a knight of Oblyad for over ten years.
The only difference from Taeyon and Kaniel’s tent was that a round table suitable for gathering and discussing was placed in the center of the tent. On it was a map of this place, the territory of Breil.
“When reinforcements arrive….”
“My lord!”
At the call from outside the tent, the lord swept his hair back as if tired. However, he didn’t tell them to leave. The territory was in a complicated situation right now, and it was natural for various news to reach him.
